


Advent calendar drabble #11

by begformercytwice



Series: Advent Calendar 2012 [11]
Category: Inception (2010)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-11
Updated: 2012-12-11
Packaged: 2017-11-20 21:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/begformercytwice/pseuds/begformercytwice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Mal takes her first step into the world of dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Advent calendar drabble #11

The nightmares always came when her parents fought. She should have grown out of it by now; she'd be leaving for university in less than a month, but she still sometimes felt like a child. What she needed, she thought as she crept downstairs to her father's study, was a good night's sleep.

She'd heard him talking about the dream machine they were developing, but she had no idea how it worked. Only a few weeks ago, she'd read one of his reports detailing the catatonic state of a former test subject, but that only made it seem more interesting. Someone had to get a handle on the procedure, she decided, locking the study door behind her, and it might as well be her.

Gently, she eased open the cabinet door, mindful of the creak. To the eye of an outsider, it looked like it held only stacks of documents, but she'd been poking around in here since she was small. A few seconds and she found the switch, and the panel slid aside to reveal the shiny metal case. Bingo.

After reading so many of her father's research papers, it didn't take long to work out how to use the thing. Needle in, push button, have lovely, controlled dreams. It was only as she slid into unconsciousness that she realised she hadn't a clue how to get back.

This time, with only that one, ominous thought overwhelming her mind, the nightmare was worse than anything she had experienced before, and the sheer terror rushing through her made her sleeping body scream and convulse, bringing everyone in the house rushing down to see what was going on. Her parents took turns trying to break down the door, but by the time they managed, she'd torn the needle out of her arm and was wide awake, shaking, sweating, and crying.

Later, after they'd calmed her down and her mother had gone back to bed, her father sat with her at the kitchen counter and explained to her exactly what the machine did. If she really wanted to, he'd told her, she could take part in some controlled experiments. No more than that, though; just something to sate her curiosity. It was dangerous, he said. You could lose your mind if you took it too far.

She agreed at once, of course. Learning about the mind from books could only take her so far. No psychology professor would be able to teach her more than what she could learn from going deep into her own mind. Never mind the warnings, she thought. She was tough enough to cope with anything.


End file.
